New Yankees manager Aaron Boone will never be able to escape his 2003 ALCS home run in Game 7 off of Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield. Boone will always be synonymous with the home run, but he wants to do all he can to distance himself from the shot.

Why? Because many forget that while Boone's homer was iconic in Yankees' lore, New York's next series in 2003 did not go so well.

"For a long time, I kind of tried to distance myself from it because we lost the World Series," Boone said Wednesday at his introductory press conference at Yankee Stadium. "You know, as you meet athletes all the time, some of the things that stick with you the most and remember the most are not getting it done."

Boone did say he hears unique stories every day from fans about where they were when he hit the home run, and it always stuns him just how far-reaching Yankees fandom is. He also said the home run truly demonstrated to him the scope of the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry.

But still, he will never forget the home run or what he had to watch in Game 6 of the World Series.

"I'll never forget the Marlins celebrating on the field," he said. "That's something that's engrained in my head, and I think one of the things that motivates me now in this job is to go chase that ultimate prize."

Boone replaces Joe Girardi, who the Yankees fired after he led the team for 10 years.

He was among several candidates for the job. Former All-Star Carlos Beltran, Yankees bench coach Rob Thomson, former Yankees player and current Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens, Mariners manager Eric Wedge and Dodgers third base coach Chris Woodward also interviewed for the job.

Boone, most recently an MLB analyst at ESPN, played 12 season in the majors, but only part of one season with the Yankees, that fateful 2003 season.